Brian Damage
In 2002, WWE held its third incarnation of the reality competition show…Tough Enough. The eventual two men who won the competition and winners of WWE contracts were John Hennigan (Johnny Nitro/Morrison/Mundo Impact) and a 22 year old from Caledonia, New York named Matt Cappotelli.
Both Hennigan and Cappotelli were considered to be the best duo to ever win Tough Enough. It was high praise and deservedly so. Matt Cappotelli was best known as the trainee who was assaulted by Bob Holly during a Tough Enough episode just because Holly wanted to teach him a lesson in pro wrestling. John Hennigan and Matt Cappotelli debuted in an exhibition match on Monday Night Raw in January of 2003. The match would be interrupted by Tommy Dreamer who welcomed the two rookies by hitting them both with a Singapore cane. The duo would be sent to WWE’s developmental territory in Louisville, Kentucky called Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) Hennigan, who was more advanced in his development was called up to the main roster first as Eric Bischoff’s “assistant.” Cappotelli meanwhile, remained in OVW to grow and develop a character and hone his wrestling skills.
One of his former trainers and famed wrestling manager Jim Cornette said that while Hennigan was a better athlete…Cappotelli was the better worker. Cornette had nothing but high praise for Matt, who believed that Cappotelli had the look, charisma and talent to be a huge star for the WWE. Matt would form a tag team in OVW called ‘The Thrill Seekers’ with Johnny Jeter and win the OVW Southern tag team titles. After Cornette was relieved of his administrative duties in OVW…Paul Heyman was hired to take over.
Just like Cornette, Paul Heyman saw the potential in Cappotelli and gave him a huge singles run with the promotion. While wrestling for OVW, Matt would also appear in several dark matches on WWE’s main roster. Matt would get the big rub when Heyman decided to push him as OVW’s top star and in 2005, won the OVW heavyweight title. During this time, the WWE was planning to call up one of its hottest young stars in Cappotelli. They were developing a gimmick and were filming several vignettes for his eventual call up to the main roster.
On December 14, 2005 OVW’s hottest and brightest young talent’s career came to a screeching halt. It was a tag team match at an OVW television taping that saw Cappotelli team with fellow OVW wrestler Chris Cage versus Johnny Jeter and Mark Henry. During the match, Cappotelli’s tag team partner…Chris Cage turned on on Matt by delivering a very stiff forearm shot to the side of Cappotelli’s head. For a brief moment, Cappotelli was legitimately knocked out. OVW owner ‘Nightmare’ Danny Davis and trainer Al Snow saw that Matt was shaken up by the stiff forearm and requested that Matt get checked out by a doctor. Cappotelli was hesitant at first because he thought he felt fine….he went anyway. It was at the hospital, that Matt’s life would change forever.
They discovered a large mass on his brain…it turned out to be brain cancer. Matt Cappotelli’s promising wrestling career was suddenly over. In February of 2006 at the OVW TV tapings, Matt Cappotelli surrendered his OVW title while being surrounded at ringside by the entire OVW roster. Matt thanked his trainers, his fellow wrestlers and especially Chris Cage who felt absolutely guilty for stiffing him. Cappotelli said that one stiff shot, may have saved his life. Matt then said a prayer in the middle of the ring and walked out. According to fans that were in attendance…the OVW show was suppose to last 3 hours, but wound up going over 5 hours as Matt hung around hugging and talking to every fan who wanted to talk to him.
As Cappotelli was preparing for the fight of his life, the WWE announced that they would honor the rest of his developmental contract which lasted until January of 2009. Matt would win his battle with cancer after having successful surgery that removed 90% of the cancerous tumor. Radiation treatments would get rid of the rest of it. Matt would secretly marry his girlfriend Lindsay in Hawaii in 2006. After his WWE contract expired, Cappotelli decided to continue his love of professional wrestling by staying with OVW as a trainer.
All seemed well for Matt and his family…up until July of 2017. He was once again diagnosed with brain cancer. This time, however, it was a more aggressive form that gave Cappotelli symptoms of Parkinsons disease without actually having it. It is said that only about 5% of patients with this form of cancer survive past 5 years. Jim Cornette said it best…if anybody can beat it…it’s Matt Cappotelli. Sadly, Matt Cappotelli succumbed to cancer on June 29, 2018. He was just 38 years old. His wife Lindsay donated Matt’s brain to the UNITE Brain Bank to help further CTE research.